Do you want to go to the seaside...

During my morning Bible reading time this morning the very first thing I read was about Jesus and the sea, two of my favorite things! 


Mark 4: 1 & 2, And again He began to teach by the sea.  And a great multitude was gathered to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat in it on the sea; and the whole multitude was on the land facing the sea.  Then He taught them many things by parables.


The part that got my attention was, "And again He began to teach by the sea."  It indicates that Jesus spent a lot of time by the sea, I LOVE THIS!   The creator of the sea enjoyed being by  the sea.  The creator created something that He enjoyed being by.  Friends and neighbors I'm here to tell you that He feels the same way about YOU!  He created you and loves to be by you, to be with you.

You may not feel lovable today, but, you are! 

The lover of your soul wants to be by you!

The giver of life wants to be with you! 

You are loved more than you will ever know! 


None of us can comprehend how deeply His love for us is, it's bigger than the sea.  

Do you want to go to the seaside? I fell in love by the seaside,  ~ the Kooks

Finally they're here...

I live on the third floor of my apartment building, my apartment faces woods and there's always a lot of bird activity, so I decided to feed the birds.  Growing up my parents fed the birds, it was always highly entertaining, so just after Christmas I bought a hanging bird feeder and some seed, brought it home, filled the feeder and hung it up.  It's been over two months and finally the birds have found my feeder! I'm so excited they've finally found my feeder. It's now a flurry of activity and I am so enjoying these fine feathered friends.

Happy Sunday! 

I've been thinking about...

I've been working on weeding out some of my photos, in my editing program, because I need more room so I can add new photos.  This is hard, first off to delete some photos then to put ones I want to keep on CD's, and load some to my flickr.   While doing this I came across some photos from numerous trips I made last Spring, Summer and  Fall,  to what I affectionately call, "The Secret Beach."  I'll admit I forgot (out of sight out of mind) how lovely it is there, how much I love it, and how I'm looking forward to being able to go there soon. It's a small public beach on Lake Michigan situated neatly between Holland and Saugatuck.  It's never busy because you have to haul up all these stairs and down to get to the beach.  It's a real work out, no really, a for real hard core workout, at least in my mind it is. Once when I was there a guy was running up and down the stairs, as he huffed past me I said, "Good job, I'm proud of you," I was sitting down.   When I mention to my kids that we should go to the Secret Beach for our annual family photo shoot they all roll their eyes. For me those stairs are part of the charm of the beach. You pull in the parking lot which faces a huge sand dune hill, you can't see or hear the water. You walk up the first set of steps to a wood walkway, then to the huge section of stairs leading up to the top of the sand dune hill, at which point you can see the lake in all it's glory.  Then down, down, down, down lot's and ton's and multiple upon multiple steps to finally arrive on "The Beach."  Getting to the beach is easier than getting out, because the climb up the stairs is harder going up than going down.  You can opt out altogether and use a path on the sand dune hill, but in my opinion this is way harder. I said all of that to say,  "I miss the Secret Beach, the smell, the sound and yes even those stairs." 

You know I've said it a ton before that I love Snow, but, the Secret Beach I love it too! 

Happy Wednesday Everyone! 

Happy Valentine's Day...

Happy Valentine's Day to all my children. This love greeting includes their spouses (and soon to be spouse), because I consider you all my children too.  You've all  such amazing, witty, cool, creative, fun, weird (different is good) great looking people.  I'd like you and want to hang out with you even if you weren't my kids! For real! 

Happy Valentine's Day to my grandkids who are super cute, creative, share my love of popcorn, and who actually like it when I do dancey dance's and sing silly songs! One of my favorite things to do with you, besides the movies and the popcorn is the privilege of getting to tuck you in bed and say your nighty night prayers.  It's so special to me! 

Happy Valentine's Day to all my co-workers. You're all great people and I enjoy working with such a great team! You make me laugh, you make me cry...just kidding!  Only tears of joy from laughing so hard.  Thanks for loving me, now get to work!

Happy Valentine's Day to my future husband, whoever and where ever you are!  I know you're out there, God's promised me, and He always keeps His promises! 

Happy Valentine's Day relatives and friends!  Love you! Proud of you! Good talk, see you out there! 

Happy Valentine's Day to my blog readers, whoever you are, I appreciate you and would love to hear from you.  If I could reach through my computer screen I'd do that now and give you a fistful of chocolate! 

Happy Valentine's Day to the winner of my February Give Away "BuckBarryFan,"  I'll be contacting you to get your address to mail your prize!   

Don't forget to tell the people that you love that you love them!
 Not just today, but everyday! They need to hear it from you whether they think they do or not.  

While you're at it go ahead and hug it out with them too!

In other news I really wish I had some chocolate right now! 

It's Friday...

Because it's Friday...
Because Valentine's Day is Monday... 
Because I recently started a new job...
Because my car is fixed, and I was reminded that I have a warranty to cover all the repairs, thank you Randy Bugg of Tinney Automotive, to whom I am eternally grateful.   :) 
Because I can, and want to... 
Because I said I would...
I'm having a "Give Away!"   Yeah!!!!!   Freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Stuff! 
"What kind of stuff," you  ask.    
"I'm giving away some of my greeting cards!," I excitedly reply. 
Here's how it's going to work, post a comment about something you love, once a day until Valentine's Day, Monday February 14, 2011.  
On Valentine's Day a winner will be randomly chosen.  I'll announce the winner and mail the prize. 
The winner will receive 25 greeting cards, made with love, by me! 
It'll be like getting a box full of love in the mail! 
Here's some example's, just so you know what you're getting yourself into. 

There you have it! Get busy commenting and showing me some love! 

Good news, bad news!

First the good news!  I got my first Etsy order today! 

I was so surprised, and delighted! 

  

The bad news, my car is in for repair,

and I found out that I'll need to have at least 

57 more Etsy orders to pay for the repair bill!  Oh boy! 

In other news, Valentine's Day is on it's way. 

In honor of this special love day I'm going to have 

a give away that will start on Friday and end on Valentines Day, 

So stay tuned for more information about that coming on Friday.

Keep up the good work everybody!

Today...

Today, was a lack luster, ultra relaxed day, and I'm glad, I needed a break from busy, busy, busy.  I'm not feeling fantastic, I feel like my mojo has gone out the window (kind of rhymes, a rap star I'm not). When I'm too busy I get mean. I'm here to tell you that if you were around me when I was mean you probably wouldn't even know I was feeling mean, I internalize it, it's just part of who I am.  Also, part of who I am is a quality time girl, I enjoy people one on one, or in small groups, but to much interaction with people and I need a break. I'm not a fan of parties where you have to mingle, especially if I have to go alone, not a fan.  I don't mind being by myself, in fact I need my alone time, or I get mean.  Sorry if I'm Debbie downer today, don't worry I won't be mean to you.   Here's some flower photos, they always make me happy and not mean! 

I recorded the finale episode of "Lost," and am watching it tonight, the second time through.   I forgot about all the back stories and all the handsome men, Desmond, Jack, Richard, oh boy, now I don't feel so mean. 

Happy Saturday night! 

From the Inside Out...

We had a blizzard last night!!! Multiple exclamation points means I'm SUPER excited about it! I admit I wouldn't love having to be out in it, but it sure is pretty to look at. Makes me feel surrounded by love and secure, not sure why this is the effect it has on me, it just does. I have a friend who is also a blogger, she lives on a farm, her post yesterday was about all the work that blizzards create for her family on the farm.  I felt guilty for loving the adverse weather, and also thankful that I don't have a farm to tend to, or a pet to walk. To each his own right? 

This morning was a winter wonder land...lovely looking at it from the inside out! 

The drive to work, slow going but winter fabulous!

Happy blizzard recovery!!!